Marin Cilic edged out a spirited Hubert Hurkacz 6-2 6-2 6-7(3) 7-5 to make the third round of Roland Garros.
The match had a competitive start to as the Pole looked rather comfortable on his first outing out on Philippe Chatrier as he was trying to get used to the width of the court. However the fourth seed looked to be more aggressive and impose his game on Hurkacz as he used his big groundstrokes to open up the court. The Croatian’s power was too much for his 21 year old opponent as he broke twice and won the last four games to take the first set in 35 minutes.
The second set was a similar pattern as Hurkacz seemed to lack the intensity that saw him beat Tennys Sandgren in the first round on Tuesday. The Croatian’s main strength is his serve and he hit that shot to perfection especially on his first serve, which caused his Polish opponent all sorts of problems. Another couple of breaks sealed the second set as Cilic cruised to a two sets to love lead.
However the match was about to take a slight U-turn as the Polish qualifier realised that he had nothing to lose and started t play with more freedom. After some Cilic errors the 21 year old broke for a 3-2 lead as the Croatian was suddenly struggling with his serve. Although the fourth seed broke back for 3-3, the match was suddenly more competitive and saw Hurkacz return to some of his best tennis especially serving well. The Pole saved a match point and forced a third set tiebreak as he started to enjoy the occasion.
The Croatian’s biggest weakness is his mental fortitude and his bottle in a big match, which started to become his downfall in this match as well. The Pole played a few really good points and stole the third set 7-3 in the tiebreak as Cilic realised he was now in a competitive match.
The 21 year old began the fourth serving big and playing the best tennis of his career opening up the court with ease against the fourth seed. The Croatian was fighting to stay in the match as the momentum was definitely with Hurkacz especially given his confidence. The more break points Cilic was creating, the more impressively the Pole was saving them as he started to build on his aces count. However experience counts for a lot in our sport and the former US Open champion used his experience to eventually break and struggle across the finishing line to seal his place in the third round.
The Polish qualifier can leave with a lot of experience and confidence as he reached his first ever main draw at a slam and tested the fifth best player in the world. His ranking will now be at a new career high, where he will enter the world’s top 150 as he heads to the Poznan challenger next week.
As for Cilic he was severely tested and will need to play better as well as improving his nerves on the big moments. The Croatian now awaits Steve Johnson in the third round after the American’s four set win over Jan-Lennard Struff.
